After a very late start, when I considered not cooking today at all, I've put lemongrass spareribs in the oven which I will serve with sticky rice and an Asian cabbage slaw.

"...To undersalt deliberately in the name of dietary chic is to omit from the music of cookery the indispensable bass line over which all tastes and smells form their harmonies." -- Robert Farrar Capon

I made Hünkar Begendi, a classic Ottoman Turkish dish -- it looked just like the picture in the "tell me about lamb" thread, and everyone really liked it. The smokey eggplant puree is evidently kind of like the Turkish version of mashed potatoes, a great foil for any meat dish. And of course tender braised chunks of lamb in a spicy sauce of tomatoes and red peppers would be good by itself or with anything...

I did take a couple of pictures of the eggplant processing but I'm slow about putting them up. These were large and luckily young eggplants and I was really able to remove the seeds almost completely. It was like boning a fish, a little delicate but not hard after you started noticing the patterns. I wanted this puree to be perfect -- and it was, pretty much. But I couldn't bring myself to throw out the seedy stuff and will probably make a little babaganouj with it later.

The eggplant puree is based on a basic bechamel, with the addition of lemon juice, grated cheese, and of course the eggplant. It actually seemed to bring out the flavor of the smokey eggplant rather than covering it up, especially as the salt and pepper approached the correct levels.

I made a nice loaf of bread yesterday, which my wife and I had for dinner just with olive oil, tomatoes and salt while it was still warm. The star of the show, though, was dessert: a clementine-fennel sorbet. I simmered the peel of 2 clementines and a fistfull of pestle'd fennel seeds in simple syrup, then chilled it down and added it to the ice cream maker with the juice of a number of the other fruit. At the end I mixed in the chopped peel that had simmered in the syrup, as it had become candied. It was very intense, and the fennel gave it a Mediterranean lilt.

Tom NJ wrote:I made a nice loaf of bread yesterday, which my wife and I had for dinner just with olive oil, tomatoes and salt while it was still warm. The star of the show, though, was dessert: a clementine-fennel sorbet. I simmered the peel of 2 clementines and a fistfull of pestle'd fennel seeds in simple syrup, then chilled it down and added it to the ice cream maker with the juice of a number of the other fruit. At the end I mixed in the chopped peel that had simmered in the syrup, as it had become candied. It was very intense, and the fennel gave it a Mediterranean lilt.

I have no sweet tooth at all, but I do love refreshing fruit-based desserts like sorbet. Yours sounds terrific--I love the unexpected use of savory herbs and spices.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Last night's dinner was the pork roast with rosemary and figs recipe I posted separately (and subbed raisins in place of figs, which are momentarily unobtainable). I served it with chopped baby broccoli, and as a second course following golden beets with feta cheese served on a fresh herb salad (red mustard, chervil, par-sel and chives).

And a note to Paul: your description inspired me to throw a spoonful of Lan Chi into a pureed cauliflower soup that I served for lunch today: terrific!

Tonight we grilled pork chop rubbed with Penseys' pork chop seasoning; over charcoal and hickory chips. We served them with generous portions of our succotash, and washed all down with Smuttynose Noonan Black IPA (yeah that sounds like an oxymoron).

We're going simple tonight, grilled chile-lime corn on the cob with a guacamole salad (iceberg with an avocado-garlic-oregano dressing). It's yesterday's Meatless Monday meal that got delayed when friends invited us to dine on their boat.

My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov

Jenise wrote:Smuttynose? Carl, what a great name. Sounds like a great dinner.

Smuttynose is the name of an island offshore of Portsmouth in a group called the Isles of Shoals. The name goes back to colonial times, and I'm not sure where it comes from; maybe historian Paul knows. The brewery in Portsmouth takes its name from it.

Mary said the tofu with its glass-crisp skin and steaming creamy insides reminded her of French toast. I offered her some maple syrup, but she declined. Hmm.

What kind of tofu is that? They look like little pita sandwiches.

Nuthin' special. Just half a block of firm or extra firm cut into fairly thin slices (3/8 to 1/2 inch, I guess), then seared on both sides on a griddle in a little oil until they're really crispy on the edges and still pure white (but steamy-creamy) in the middle.

The tofu I cooked for the Chinese stir fry last night was almost exactly that shape. And I got it nice and crisply brown on one side but after pressing it I had marinated the other side with a little BBQ sauce to add flavor. I am doing bias cut scallions every time I cook Chinese now, they turn into such juicy little lumps, nice texture in the mouth. And last night I bought baby corn, baby zucchini, mushrooms, a poblano pepper, and added it to the sweet red pepper and celery stalks we already had. A spoonful of Lan Chi, and finish with corn starch and a splash of dark soy (and other stuff). My son had FOUR servings. Some of them small, but 4...